JP7686651B2 - Sliver containment device and method for forming a sliver containment device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sliver storage device for supplying sliver coming from a draft device to a yarn forming element of a spinning device, an air spinning device equipped with a sliver storage device, and a method for forming a sliver storage device for supplying sliver coming from a draft device to a yarn forming element of a spinning device.

Sliver receiving devices for spinning devices, in particular for air spinning devices, are known from the prior art in a wide variety of configurations and are usually used to control the sliver coming from the drafting device and feed it to a spinning nozzle or to a yarn-forming element having a spinning nozzle. In this case, the sliver receiving device is typically formed from several components made of different materials. In particular, a sliver guide device is typically arranged on the base body, followed in the sliver running direction by a blow air nozzle.

An air spinning device is known, for example, from DE 10 2008 006 379 A1, in which the sliver receiving device is formed from several components. In this air spinning device, a particularly precise and intimate connection must be created between the individual components due to the fluid flow used for spinning, on the one hand, to transport the sliver and, on the other hand, to spin the sliver to form yarns with the aid of the spinning compressed air. This requires a particularly laborious and expensive production with very small component tolerances, and furthermore the assembly of the spinning device is particularly complicated.

In addition to the problem that the components must be particularly tightly coupled to avoid fluid leakage, the prior art devices also have the disadvantage that the fibers of the sliver are trapped at the separation points of the individual components during transport from the drafting device through the sliver receiving device to the spinning nozzle and are thereby detached from the sliver. This leads, on the one hand, to a reduction in the fibers that can be spun into yarns and thus to a lower efficiency of the device, and, on the other hand, to an accumulation of detached fibers in the area of the yarn-forming elements, which deteriorates the spinning result and impairs the functionality of the device.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a sliver receiving device for feeding sliver coming from a drafting device to a yarn-forming element of a spinning device, an air spinning device and a method for forming a sliver receiving device, which allows the spinning process to be performed with high precision and efficiency, reduces contamination of the device with fibers detached during operation, and at the same time allows the device to be manufactured and assembled in a particularly simple, inexpensive and defect-free manner.

This problem is solved according to the invention by a sliver storage device according to claim 1, an air spinning device according to claim 9 and a method for producing a sliver storage device according to claim 11. Advantageous refinements of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

The sliver receiving device according to the present invention for feeding the sliver coming from the drafting device to the yarn forming element of the spinning device comprises a base body having an inlet opening for receiving the sliver fed from the drafting device, and a sliver guide device arranged downstream of the inlet opening along the sliver receiving direction for feeding the sliver in a defined manner to the yarn forming element, the sliver guide device having a single needle, which is formed integrally with the base body, or the sliver guide device being formed from two needles arranged side by side, the needle tip of the needle at least partially protruding into a blow air nozzle section formed integrally with the base body for forming a rotating air flow, or being provided upstream of the blow air nozzle section from the direction of the inlet opening.

The present invention further relates to a spinning device, in particular an air spinning device, equipped with a spinning nozzle having a spinning cone, in which the sliver storage device according to the present invention is arranged upstream of the spinning cone or upstream of the spinning nozzle along the sliver storage direction.

In the method according to the invention for forming a sliver receiving device for feeding the sliver coming from the drafting device to the yarn forming element of the spinning device, a sliver guide device for a defined feeding of the sliver to the yarn forming element, formed from a single needle arranged downstream of an inlet opening, is formed integrally with the base body of the sliver receiving device, or alternatively, in a sliver guide device formed from two side-by-side needles arranged downstream of an inlet opening, a blow air nozzle section for forming a rotating air flow in the spinning device is formed integrally with the base body of the sliver receiving device.

The sliver receiving device according to the invention advantageously allows for a faster, more defect-free and more accurate production of yarn from the sliver, in particular due to the more accurate and separation-free structure of the sliver receiving device. Furthermore, no risk of non-tightness due to separation and connection points between the base body of the sliver receiving device and the at least one needle and/or blow air nozzle section occurs. Finally, a particularly simple, inexpensive and defect-free production and assembly is made possible.

The sliver receiving device is, first of all, essentially a component or a group of components that controls and feeds the fiber material, in particular the sliver coming from the drafting device, to a spinning nozzle, in particular a spinning cone, or to any other yarn-forming element. In this case, the sliver receiving device can essentially be formed as a multi-part component or integrally formed as a single component and can be made of any material. Preferably, the sliver receiving device is fixed to the spinning device, in particular directly to the outer housing of the spinning device.

The yarn-forming element can basically be any functional or structural unit consisting of one or more components. The yarn-forming element is provided for forming a yarn from individual fibers and in particular from a sliver. Preferably, the yarn-forming element comprises a spinning nozzle, in particular an air spinning nozzle, and particularly preferably, the yarn-forming element has a spinning cone of the air spinning nozzle. Correspondingly, the spinning device is preferably an air spinning device, in which the sliver is particularly preferably swirled in the region of the spinning cone, and in particular in the region between the end of the sliver guide device and the spinning cone, by a rotating spinning compressed air flow or a blown air flow so that a yarn is formed.

The sliver receiving device has a base body on which all the other structural and component parts of the sliver receiving device are arranged, fixed and/or molded. Preferably, the base body is formed in one piece. In order to be able to receive the sliver, the base body according to the invention has an inlet opening through which the sliver is guided. Preferably, the inlet opening surrounds the sliver all around. The inlet opening can be arranged exactly in the center or in the region of the central longitudinal axis of the sliver receiving device, or it can be offset and/or angled with respect to the center. However, it is particularly preferred that the inlet opening runs parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the sliver receiving device and very particularly preferably exactly on the central longitudinal axis. It is also preferred that the shape and/or diameter of the inlet opening is selected in such a way that the sliver can be guided all around and/or can come into contact with the surface of the inlet opening all around.

According to the invention, the sliver guide device is provided for at least partially controlling or defining the sliver guided into the sliver receiving device through the inlet opening and guiding it to the yarn forming element. Preferably, the sliver guide device simultaneously acts as a twist-stop device, which prevents the entire fibers of the sliver from being swirled in the blow air nozzle section. More preferably, the sliver guide device allows only the fiber ends protruding from the sliver to be wrapped around the fibers inside the sliver. For this purpose, the sliver receiving device, particularly preferably coming from the drafting device, is fed directly through the inlet opening and/or via the sliver table.

According to the invention, the sliver guide device is arranged downstream of the inlet opening along the sliver receiving direction, i.e. the sliver guide device is arranged adjacent to the inlet opening in the sliver transport direction and/or inside the sliver receiving device.

The sliver guide device can in principle be designed in any way to guide the sliver partially. In this case, the sliver receiving device is preferably designed integrally, i.e. in one piece, or is formed from two needles that are respectively integral. The sliver guide device is furthermore preferably completely part of the base body and/or is formed integrally with the base body. It is also preferred that the sliver guide device protrudes from the base body on one side, in particular on the side located opposite the inlet opening, and/or extends into the blow air nozzle section up to the front of the blow air nozzle section.

The sliver guide device is preferably arranged at least partially before or in the region of the blow air nozzle section, so that the sliver can be at least partially guided in the region of the blow air nozzle and/or protected from complete capture and swirling. Particularly preferably, the tip of the sliver guide device, in particular the tip of one or more needles, is arranged immediately before or in the opening region of the air spinning nozzle, and in particular of the spinning cone of the air spinning nozzle, respectively.

The sliver guide device may be formed as a single needle and/or with a separate tip. In this case, the single needle is preferably formed rotationally symmetrically in the region of its tip, particularly preferably over substantially its entire length. More preferably, the single needle is arranged along the central longitudinal axis of the inlet opening or at the central longitudinal axis or in the extension of this central longitudinal axis. According to the invention, at least one needle is formed integrally with the base body.

However, the sliver guide device can also be configured as two needles or tips arranged at least partially next to each other. These two needles preferably form a tweezers unit. Very particularly preferably, the sliver receiving device is a tweezers nozzle, in which two identical needles, particularly preferably arranged next to each other, form the tweezers. In principle, however, the two needles of the sliver guide device can also be configured differently from each other.

Preferably, the two needles arranged next to each other are formed integrally, particularly preferably integrally with the base body. More preferably, the two needles are arranged parallel to one another and/or have equal length. It is also preferred that the two needles are arranged at equal distances from the central longitudinal axis of the inlet opening or from the extension of the central longitudinal axis of the inlet opening and/or are arranged oppositely with respect to the central longitudinal axis.

The blow air nozzle section can basically be formed by a specific component or by another component, in particular by part of the base body of the yarn storage device. In this case, the blow air nozzle section is arranged downstream of the section of the sliver storage device with the inlet opening in the sliver running direction and/or is provided for supplying spinning compressed air. Preferably, the blow air nozzle section of the sliver guide unit is also formed integrally with the base body by a single needle.

The blow air nozzle section is preferably formed as a nozzle block with at least one, preferably several, blow air nozzles. Particularly preferably, the nozzle block has a closed circumferential section surrounding at least one blow air nozzle, and very particularly preferably, the nozzle block is cylindrical. Furthermore, the several blow air nozzles are preferably distributed over the entire circumference of the blow air nozzle section, in particular the nozzle block. In this case, the blow air nozzles are very particularly preferably distributed along the circumference at equal intervals relative to one another.

The blow air nozzles in the blow air nozzle section are preferably positioned tangentially towards the spinning cone in the region of the inlet opening of the spinning nozzle, so that a rotating air flow is generated. The positioning of the blow air nozzles is further preferably selected so that the air flow impinges on the inner surface of the expansion casing surrounding the spinning cone in a plane axially spaced from the plane of the inlet opening.

In a preferred configuration of the sliver receiving device according to the invention, at least the base body and the sliver guide device are made from the same material, and particularly preferably the blow air nozzle section is made from the same material as the base body and/or the sliver guide device, which allows a particularly simple manufacture and at the same time a configuration without separation points and joint points.

Although the sliver receiving device may consist of any material, in a preferred embodiment the entire sliver receiving device is made of ceramic. This allows a particularly good guiding of the sliver and in particular a surface free of separation and bonding points to be constructed in a simple manner. Another embodiment of the sliver receiving device according to the invention provides that the sliver receiving device has a ceramic coating at least on all surface sections which guide the fibres, which provides a particularly smooth, stable and resistant surface. Particularly preferably, at least the surface of the needles and/or the sliver table has a ceramic coating. Particularly preferably, the entire sliver receiving device has a ceramic coating. Particularly preferably, if the sliver receiving device is made of plastic or metal, the sliver receiving device or at least a part of the sliver receiving device has a ceramic coating.

According to a preferred refinement of the sliver receiving device, both needles are formed mirror-symmetrically to one another and/or are arranged mirror-symmetrically to one another. Both needles may be arranged simultaneously or alternatively rotationally symmetrically and/or mirror-symmetrically to the inlet opening or to the central longitudinal axis of the inlet opening. Such an alignment is particularly suitable if both needles are not each formed rotationally symmetrically, so that the surface of each needle is adapted to its function and arrangement. The entire needles may not be formed rotationally symmetrically, or only one section of the needle, in particular the section of the needle adjacent to the base body or the sliver table, may not be formed rotationally symmetrically.

According to one preferred embodiment of the sliver receiving device according to the invention, a sliver table is arranged between the inlet opening and the sliver guide device, via which the sliver can be guided or is guided in the operating state of the sliver receiving device. The sliver table preferably has a closed, uninterrupted surface. The needles preferably protrude beyond the sliver table, and particularly preferably the sliver receiving device has no connection points between the components, in particular in the area of the sliver table and/or in the transition area to the needles. Very particularly preferably, the overall inner contour and in particular the surfaces of the sliver table and/or the needles are formed without edges and/or angles. Particularly preferably, the sliver receiving device has a continuous transition surface between the base body and the needles. The surface of the sliver table can, in principle, be constructed in any way, but preferably the surface of the sliver table likewise has no edges, and particularly preferably the surface configuration of the inner contour or the sliver table is partially or completely spiral and/or concave and/or convex.

An advantageous refinement of the air spinning device provides that the sliver guide device of the sliver receiving device extends at least partially into the blow air nozzle section and/or partially into the opening of the spinning cone, so that a particularly accurate guidance can be achieved at the same time as sufficient swirling of the fiber ends for thread formation. Alternatively, the sliver guide device may terminate just before the spinning cone in the blow air nozzle section.

In a first advantageous refinement of the method according to the invention, the sliver receiving device is produced by additive manufacturing, which makes it possible to produce sliver receiving devices with complex shapes in a simple manner. Furthermore, by additive manufacturing, separation and connection points can be reliably avoided. Possible additive manufacturing methods can be, for example, 3D printing, selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), binder jetting (BJ), fused deposition modeling (FDM) or laser sintering, in particular laser sintering with a material made of metal in each case. Additionally or alternatively, sintering of the material pieces can also be carried out.

Particularly preferred are methods in which the sliver receiving device is formed from ceramics and/or by means of stereolithography (SL). In contrast, if it is desired to form the sliver receiving device from metal, production by means of laser sintering, in particular selective laser sintering (SLS), is preferred. Alternatively, however, the sliver receiving device can also be formed in another way, in particular from metal, and then sintered. Furthermore, it is possible to form the sliver receiving device by bonding at least two parts, in particular the base body and the blow air nozzle section, to one another by sintering or in another way without separation points and/or in a material-bonded manner.

Several embodiments of the sliver storage device and parts of the sliver storage device according to the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a region of an air spinning device with a first embodiment of a sliver containment device; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a region of an air spinning device with a second embodiment of a sliver containment device; 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the sliver receiving device shown in FIG. 1 with a blow air nozzle section; FIG. FIG. 3b is a perspective view showing the outer surface of the sliver containing device shown in FIG. 3a; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the outer surface of the portion of the sliver receiving device shown in FIG. 3 . 4b is a perspective view of the outer surface of the portion of the sliver receiving device shown in FIG. 3, rotated relative to FIG. 4a; FIG. FIG. 4b is a plan view of the sliver receiving device shown in FIG. 4a, looking towards the sliver guide device;

The sliver receiving device 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a one-piece base body 4 and is arranged in the air spinning device opposite the yarn forming element 2 of the air spinning device. The yarn forming element 2 has a spinning nozzle 10 with a spinning cone 9.

The sliver storage device 1 has an entrance opening 3 through which the sliver coming from the draft device can be supplied to the sliver storage device 1. The surface of the sliver storage device 1 is formed as a sliver table 8 following the entrance opening 3 in the sliver transport direction, and the sliver is supplied to the sliver guide device 5 via the sliver table 8.

The sliver guide device 5 has the function of supplying the sliver to the yarn forming element 2 in a controlled and defined manner. Furthermore, the sliver guide device 5 acts as a twist-stop device, which prevents the entire sliver or at least a large proportion of the sliver from being swirled during the air spinning process. The sliver guide device 5 is formed as a tweezer nozzle consisting of two parallel needles 6a, 6b, which are each formed integrally with the base body 4 and extend from the sliver table 8 in the direction of the spinning cone 9.

To enable the sliver to be spun into yarn, a blow air nozzle section 7 is provided, which is formed integrally with the base body 4 and is arranged in the region of the yarn-forming element 2 (see FIG. 3b). Both needles 6a, 6b of the sliver guide device 5 extend partially into the blow air nozzle section 7, so that the free trailing ends of the edge fibers of the sliver, after leaving the sliver guide device 5, are exposed in the blow air nozzle section 7 to the air flow emerging from the blow air nozzle 12, and these free ends are lifted or peeled off from the sliver.

At the same time, the front ends of the fibers are usually not completely peeled off, since they have already been captured by the wrapped fibers and introduced into the spinning nozzle 10. The free fiber ends peeled off from the sliver are wrapped and rotated around the spinning cone 9 by the rotating air flow generated by the blow air nozzle 12. Due to the continuous movement of the sliver in the sliver transport direction, the rear free ends of the fibers are continuously drawn into the openings 11 of the spinning nozzle 10. The edge fibers are spirally wrapped around the core fibers of the sliver.

However, in this process, since not all the fibers and fiber ends peeled off from the sliver are spun to form yarn, these peeled off fibers can be easily captured at the edges and separation points between the components of the sliver receiving device 1. Accordingly, the integral construction of the sliver receiving device 1 is advantageous. Furthermore, the integral construction eliminates non-sealing between the components, which allows for more accurate formation of the rotating air flow in the blow air nozzle section 7.

The sliver guide device 5 is formed from two needles 6a, 6b which are identical to one another and parallel to one another and are arranged in the area of the sliver table 8 on both sides of the inlet opening 3 (see FIG. 3a). In this case, the tips of the needles 6a, 6b are each arranged in the area of the outlet opening of the blow air nozzle 12 in the blow air nozzle section 7. The two needles 6a, 6b each have a shape which is not rotationally symmetrical over their entire length and are flattened in particular in the surface section facing the respective opposite needle 6a, 6b.

As shown in FIG. 4, both needles 6a, 6b are continuously connected to the surface of the sliver table 8. Both needles 6a, 6b are arranged mirror-symmetrically opposite each other. The sliver table 8 has a curved edgeless surface.

The second configuration of the sliver receiving device 1 shown in FIG. 2 differs significantly from the first configuration shown in FIG. 1 in that, on the one hand, the blow air nozzle section 7 with the blow air nozzle 12 is not formed integrally with the base body 4, and, on the other hand, the sliver guide device 5 is formed from a single needle 6 that is arranged over the entire blow air nozzle section 7 and extends into the opening 11 of the spinning nozzle 10. Furthermore, the inlet opening 3 is arranged offset and at the same time parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the base body 4, while the needle 6 extends along this central longitudinal axis.

REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 sliver receiving device 2 yarn forming element 3 inlet opening 4 base body 5 sliver guide device 6 single needle 6a first needle 6b second needle 7 blow air nozzle section 8 sliver table 9 spinning cone 10 spinning nozzle 11 opening 12 blow air nozzle

Claims (14)

A sliver receiving device (1) for feeding sliver coming from a drafting device to a yarn forming element (2) of a spinning device, comprising:
a base body (4) having an inlet opening (3) for receiving the sliver supplied from the drafting device;
a sliver guide device (5) arranged downstream of the inlet opening (3) along a sliver receiving direction for feeding the sliver in a defined manner to the yarn forming element (2);
In a sliver storage device (1),
The sliver receiving device (1), characterized in that the sliver guide device (5) is formed from two needles (6a, 6b) arranged side by side so as to extend parallel to each other along the sliver receiving direction, and the needle tips of the needles (6a, 6b) at least partially extend into a blow air nozzle section (7) formed integrally with the base body (4) for forming a rotating air flow, or are provided upstream of the blow air nozzle section (7) from the direction of the inlet opening (3). The sliver storage device (1) according to claim 1, wherein at least the base body (4) and the sliver guide device (5) are formed from the same material. The sliver receiving device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blow air nozzle section (7) is made of the same material as the base body (4) or the sliver guide device (5). The sliver storage device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sliver storage device (1) is made of ceramic. The sliver receiving device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sliver receiving device (1) has a ceramic coating at least on all surface sections that guide the fibers. The sliver receiving device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the two needles (6a, 6b) are formed and/or arranged mirror-symmetrically to each other. A sliver storage device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the two needles (6a, 6b) each do not have a rotationally symmetric shape about a central axis along the sliver storage direction. The sliver storage device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a sliver table (8) is arranged between the entrance opening (3) and the sliver guide device (5), the sliver table (8) is capable of guiding the sliver so as to introduce the sliver from the entrance opening (3) between the two needles (6a, 6b), and the sliver table (8) has a curved edgeless surface. An air spinning device comprising a spinning nozzle (10) having a spinning cone (9),
9. An air spinning device, characterized in that, in the sliver storage direction, upstream of the spinning cone (9), a sliver storage device (1) according to at least one of claims 1 to 8 is arranged. The air spinning device according to claim 9, wherein the sliver guide device (5) of the sliver receiving device (1) extends at least partially into the blow air nozzle section (7) and/or partially into the opening (11) of the spinning cone (9). 9. A method for producing a sliver receiving device (1) for feeding a sliver coming from a drafting device to a yarn-forming element (2) of a spinning device, comprising:
1. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that a sliver guide device (5) for a defined supply of the sliver to the yarn-forming element (2), formed from one needle (6) and arranged downstream of an inlet opening (3), is formed integrally with the base body (4) of the sliver receiving device (1), or in that a sliver guide device (5) formed from two side-by-side arranged needles (6a, 6b) and arranged downstream of the inlet opening (3), has a blow air nozzle section (7) for forming a rotating air flow in the spinning device formed integrally with the base body (4) of the sliver receiving device (1). The method according to claim 11, wherein the sliver containing device (1) is formed by additive manufacturing. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the sliver receiving device (1) is made from ceramic and by means of stereolithography. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the sliver receiving device (1) is formed from metal by laser sintering.

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